Moisture meters exist today in various forms. There are complex moisture meters used by agriculture and gardening professionals as part of a larger weather monitoring or irrigation system. In the case of weather monitoring systems, they generally are used to record soil moisture along with a collection of other weather related data to detect trends to aid in making decisions affecting crop yield. Moisture meters are sometimes part of largescale irrigation systems used with golf courses or other large properties for the purpose of water management. These large systems are sometimes moveable, but still too large and expensive to be suitable for household use.
Handheld moisture meters, which are suitable for household use, exist as well, however, these are standalone devices without the ability to be networked to a common display unit. This limits their functionality since the user must be in the same physical location as the soil to be measured. Moreover, if there are multiple locations, with different soil types or different watering patterns, the user must go to each location to take the moisture reading.
Most recreational gardeners employ an “appearance and feel” technique to determine if their plants require watering. In other words, they visually examine the soil and feel it to see whether or not it is damp. This technique is used because is it simple and does not require special equipment. The disadvantages are that it is time-consuming and requires specialized knowledge in order to obtain an accurate reading. It is also difficult to estimate the moisture level at soil substantially below the surface.